Clinton explains why secret arsenal size revealed

Yesterday after her speech at the U.N. review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Secretary Clinton explained why the Obama administration decided to reveal the number of nuclear weapons the United States has, which was previously a secret (though arms-control groups had some fairly accurate estimates). In answering a question about the decision to release ...

Yesterday after her speech at the U.N. review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Secretary Clinton explained why the Obama administration decided to reveal the number of nuclear weapons the United States has, which was previously a secret (though arms-control groups had some fairly accurate estimates). In answering a question about the decision to release a fact sheet showing that the United States has 5,113 warheads — down from the peak of 31,255 in fiscal year 1967 — Clinton said:

[W]e think it is in our national security interest to be as transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States. We think that builds confidence. We think it brings more people to an understanding of what President Obama and this administration is trying to do.… And we don’t believe that revealing the number of nuclear weapons we have in our arsenals, which most experts know already, but sharing it with the public is in any way in opposition to our nuclear security.

Preeti Aroon was copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009 to 2016 and was an FP assistant editor from 2007 to 2009. Twitter: @pjaroonFP

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